Society Exposed In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

The celebrated novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury begins by introducing Guy Montag, who is an exemplar within this society; he is a ‘firefighter’, and is content with his life, but not for long. Throughout the story, Montag questions the life he’s always known until ultimately he vanquishes this overwhelming sense of conformity and embraces his new unfettered state. Bradbury’s purpose in writing Fahrenheit 451 is to describe the state of turmoil that the world is in; he describes this through his diction and tone of the use and advancement of technology, as well as reflecting upon Hobbes’ Theory of the origins of society. Within Bradbury’s novel, he is critically, yet subtly, analyzing aspects of society; aspects such as the use and advancements

Throughout the novel, there is a constant war. “‘Jesus God,’ said Montag. ‘Every hour so many damn things in the sky! How in the hell did those bombers get up there every single second of our lives! Why doesn’t someone want to talk about it! We’ve started and won two atomic wars since 1990! Is it because we’re having so much fun at home we’ve forgotten the world?’” (Bradbury 73). The zealous diction creates an outraged tone. Bradbury is suggesting that people do not care unless it affects them personally, as stated in Hobbes’ Theory of the origins of society; society originates out of self-interest, not out of affection for others. He has constructed this idea along with his purpose; this world is in turmoil due to the indifference of it inhabitants. Similarly, this idea is also illustrated within a poem mentioned in Fahrenheit 451, Dover Beach. “Ah, love let us be true to one another! for the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new, hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain,” (Arnold). Arnold’s tone is optimistic of society; although society (the world) is always in turmoil he believes that if people were to acknowledge this they could regain the faith and love that they are